Differences Between Native Americans And English

Decent Essays
“Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs.” (Benjamin Franklin, 224)Native American’s experienced tremendous struggles and discrimination. Many of the reasons for this judgement were and still are today, are because different races feel as if they are superior to another. Some interesting points that were in the reading were the contrast in values and respect between Native Americans and English. The Native Americans were more than willing to help out a stranger, whereas the English were more concerned about what was in it for them, such as money they would receive if they helped a stranger out. Another is the respect that Native Americans showed.

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    As he describes in his work, he spoke and visited with the Natives on their terms as a guest instead of a captive. Therefore, it makes sense that his view would not be as severe as that of Mary Rowlandson. His exposure of the Natives originates not from a fearful, militant experience, but a polite, mutually respectful encounter. It is discovered not in a spirit of pain, but of curiosity. While Rowlandson uses negative, religious phrases to describe the Natives, Franklin calls them, “hunters, warriors, counselors and sages” (p 245).…

    • 1466 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Even with the American’s generosity, some tribes continued to cause trouble. This article was written in an American’s perspective. The perspective changes the way the information was presented because all of the Americans actions were seen as civil and fair while the Indians were perceived as the bad…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I want to compare the way that the Spanish, French, and English interacted with the local Native Americans. Each country seemed to handle and deal with the natives in a different way. Each country was motivated by something different. For the Spanish, it was gold and riches. For the French, it was furs and land.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “Tempest” In The Wilderness Savagery, Colonization, and Religion The English colonization of places such as the Americas and Ireland led Shakespeare to write his final play The Tempest. In the essay The “Tempest” In The Wilderness, written by Ronald Takaki, it is seen that the English colonizers had a very specific lifestyle that they thought the people around the world should also follow and they were not very compromising in their views. These colonizers believed that every person should believe in Christianity and if a person did not they considered them to be a savage. All of the good a person may have done would be ignored by the English if that person engaged in certain actions or rituals the English thought were uncivil or improper.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Due to their strong belief, they felt Native Americans could not be civilized until they accept the social practices of whites’ society, or superior society. The only way…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Another important one would be forgiveness. It plays a really important role because even though they went through a lot they still manage to forgive each other. Native Americans don’t have it as easy as we all think. They go through a…

    • 2493 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Native Americans were the first to settle in America and were defined by the English as indigenous people. The English labeled the indigenous people as “savages” and viewed them as an uncivilized culture, while they viewed themselves as a civilized culture. In Robert Warrior’s “Indian,” he argues the idea of the present absence of indigenous culture meaning their culture is what made up American culture and no one realizes it. In the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson explains her feelings and experience while Native Americans held her captive. In the beginning, her perception of the world was defined as either savage or civilized.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Smoke Signals Analysis

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There have been controversial and confusing stereotypes of Native Americans; this humorous, yet frank film helps clear up the whispering hearsay. This Native American agency shows how the Native Americans on the reservation treat one another versus how the white folks along the road trip treated them. Victor tells Thomas that white people always win; whether it was cowboys in their media or their family history from the past. Victor holds high respect for his culture, declaring things like “an Indian man ain’t nothing without his hair” or “you gotta look mean or people won’t respect you.” This is how they want to be perceived, giving an unconscious response to how they are treated.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    At the start of the 2015-2016 school year, Chiitaanibah Johnson, a sophomore student at California State University, was sitting in her U.S. History class when the professor allegedly denied that the term genocide should be used to encompass the tragedies that were brought upon the Native Americans. Johnson being of Navajo and Maidu descent especially took offense and decided that in the next class she would bring research to refute his claim. In the next class, the debate between Johnson and her professor became so heated that the professor expelled Johnson from his class. This story made headlines, however, there is still the unanswered question: Should what happened to the Native Americans be considered genocide?…

    • 1710 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America After reading Remarks Concerning the Savages if North America (Franklin 244) My First thought was that Benjamin Franklin called the Native American’s savages because of the way they survived off the land. Once I read the entire story I determined that it was far more intense than I thought. The Native American tribal traditions past down from each generation; the tribal leaders would not allow outsiders to impede on their village and disrupt their beliefs. When the Commissioners of Virginia offered to take some of the young men from the village back to Virginia for college (Franklin 244) the Elder Counsels assured that it would not be a good idea (Franklin 245). The Elder declared the last time…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Short Story: “The Only Traffic Signal in the reservation doesn’t flash red anymore” Topic: The various ways that Native Americans have been oppressed. Thesis: Native Americans are the most oppressed minority in the United States. They suffer from horrible living conditions, plagued by poverty, sickness, terrible housing, and alcohol/drugs.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When it comes to comparing African Americans and Native Americans, there are many similarities and differences between two racial minorities. Something that can be similar and different is the food. Native Americans eat corn, squash, beans, meat, and much more. African Americans, on the other hand, eat the same foods, but they also eat a kind of food called soul food. According to Johnnetta B. Cole, her grandma would often times make “…biscuits, bacon and ham from their smoke house, homemade applesauce, grits, beans, pork chops…”…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chief Joseph’s “An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs” and James Welch's “The Man From Washington,” suggest that promises are often broken and things aren’t set right with time. In “An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs,” readers are introduced to the misery and pain that the Native Americans had to go through after the Europeans arrived. The speaker Chief Joseph talks about how the Europeans took away the Native Americans’ land, the lives of their loved ones, and their freedom. Chief Joseph also expresses his anger and disappointment about the broken promises people have made about a better life. In the poem “The Man From Washington,” readers can understand the difficulties the Native Americans faced and the despondency within them.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    From the first landing of the Spanish, Natives were innocent to what would become of their nation. Their peaceful spirits ultimately mutilated their diverse, established existence. One of the very first settlers to describe the Indians and the unfamiliar land was Thomas Morton of New England; his writing was influential to the many curious and unaware population. He writes of the Native’s devil- worship religion but also expressed respect for theirgenerosity and their indifference of “superfluous commodities” (Foner). Prior to European contact there was approximately three to seven million Native Americans (Clarke).…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With this said, an assortment of varying lifestyles, ranging from Hispanic to native Americans way of life is not meant to breed discords among American society, but rather build upon it and fortify the morals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Inner conflicts toward other cultures have hostile consequences, like the discrimination of race or ethnicity during the times of turbulence, where Native Americans would “find intolerable” the way the culture was labeled inferior to the Anglo-Saxon American and the author states on how this is reminiscent of “the process recalls the bad old days in the South… and doled out rights based on quantities of blood. ”(Kamins 114) Similar to how African-Americans were treated during the times of slavery, this caused uproar with how Natives wanted not to cause trouble, but rather live as equals and show the wonders of the Native culture, and its peaceful nature. The question remains, had Americans seen it that way, would the bloodshed of conflict have been avoided?…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays